Monument Fire: Threat to Sierra Vista homes may end soon

by Lindsey Collom - Jun. 22, 2011 12:00 AMThe Arizona Republic

The looming threat of fire to hundreds of homes in Sierra Vista could all but disappear within the next 24 hours if burnout operations successfully bridge areas already charred by the Monument and Garden fires.

Beginning Tuesday evening, fire crews taking advantage of favorable weather had sparked numerous "low-intensity" blazes on a swath of land pitted between ranch-style homes in Ramsey Canyon and mountainous terrain where the Monument Fire continues to burn.

The goal, fire officials said, is to eliminate grasses and other ground fuels, creating a physical barrier that "basically takes all the structures out of play" in nearby Sierra Vista and Fort Huachuca, said Steve Creech, a fire operations director.

Fire crews will burn a swath stretching 3 miles from the southern tip of the Garden Fire, which has burned more than 3,710 acres on Fort Huachuca since late last week, and the northern edge of the Monument blaze.

That forward spin comes after another day of relative calm. Little, if any, wind allowed crews to spend most of Tuesday reinforcing containment lines and creating "defensible space" around homes near the area set for burnout.

Armed with axes and chainsaws, firefighters cut low-lying branches from mesquite and manzanita trees for removal to nearby dump trucks. Others with trowels and shovels scraped and dug at grasses.

Fire Capt. Robert Welch and his crew from the Yuma Fire Department have been doing this type of work since they arrived in Sierra Vista on Friday.

Welch said winds have been a challenge, particularly on Sunday, when gusts surging to more than 50 mph propelled the fire out of a canyon south of town, charring more than a dozen homes and several businesses.

Since then, "we've had a few days to work . . . so we're hoping to secure a lot of areas and take care of some of that before the winds come in," Welch said. "I think we're doing a really good job."

Burke, 60, had just returned home only to be told he and hundreds of his neighbors needed to evacuate again by nightfall, when burnout operations would begin.

"This is a place I've had for over 20 years," Burke said.

"I've renovated and remodeled it three times, so you live through that pain and then to see it possibly swept away from wildfires - well, it's saddening. I probably wouldn't even rebuild. I would probably just move on."

Other families already are in that position. The Monument Fire's destruction encompasses about 60 homes in the farmland and canyons surrounding Sierra Vista, along with four businesses and 14 other buildings, including sheds, barns and outbuildings.

The fire has burned more than 27,000 acres since its reported start Friday. As of Tuesday evening, the Monument Fire was 45 percent contained, but Creech said it could be up to 60 percent contained by Thursday morning if the weather continues to cooperate.

"The wind is the driver," Creech said. "We still have the dry fuels, we still have the high temperatures . . . but we don't have the wind.

"So long as we can keep moderate winds, then we can do our job and get this thing burned out."

To the east, the Horseshoe Two wildfire was 95 percent contained after charring nearly 223,000 acres.

Crews said they hoped to have the fire fully contained by 6 p.m. today.

In the eastern part of the state, the Wallow Fire, the largest in Arizona history, was 56 percent contained after consuming more than 527,000 acres.

Only a small number of residents in Blue River and about 200 in Luna, N.M., still face evacuation orders.

Reporter Connor Radnovich and the Associated Press contributed to this article.